Cuomo's Last (Pre-Primary) Ad

Here’s the non-eleventh-hour ad from Democratic AG frontrunner Andrew Cuomo to which Mark Green is responding in the YouTube video below.

For the first time since the campaign began, Cuomo is speaking directly to the camera in this spot. In the opening lines, he even makes an oblique reference to the long-running belief that he’s mean and over-aggressive (even though he has, of course, undergone a complete transformation):

“I learned the hard way that politics at its worst can be tough – even nasty. But I’ve also seen what public service can be at its best – a force to pursue justice and help people.”

Another first – this ad features a shot of Cuomo with his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, whose approval numbers, I’ve been told, have been steadily climbing since that fateful day when he lost to a little-known Republican state senator from Peekskill whose victory many attributed to voters’ desire for “ABC – Anybody But Cuomo.”

Next comes that by-now obligatory shot of Cuomo shaking hands with former Vice President Al Gore as former President Bill Clinton looks on, applauding.

“In Bill Clinton’s cabinet, we took on the gun lobby, we protected consumers, fought fraud with the FBI, battled discrimination, and made people’s lives better. We spoke to their hopes, not their fears.”